Morning News: Southwest Airlines Computer Glitch Causes Delays

Southwest recovers from weekend delays (and announces new uniforms and in-flight drinks); meanwhile, an infamous statue returns to haunt a New York mall.

Southwest Airlines plans to change its crew uniform for the first time in 20 years. The proposed updated designs include a bright orange belted dress for women flight attendants and hi-vis track suits for ground crew. A trial will begin later this year, for rollout in 2016. The news was announced last week alongside other fresh updates for SWA, including a new in-flight drinks menu, beginning with the addition of Leinenkugel’s Oktoberfest beer this season. (Dallas News)

Before Southwest can change its clothes, it will have to clean up after this weekend's delays. A computer glitch caused the carrier to delay about 450 flights out of its daily schedule of about 3,600 flights, and some lingering issues may delay flights into today. (USAToday)

The long Golden Week holiday in China may have ended earlier this month, but the statistics are just in. Some 400,000 Chinese tourists celebrate the 1949 founding of the People's Republic of China by traveling and, in Japan alone, spent $830 million over the seven-day span. "The more popular goods that Chinese tourists scramble for included toilet seats, medical drugs, and household items like thermoses, shavers and luxury goods. Medical tourism in Japan has also become a new growth sector," reports China Daily.
(Shanghaiist and China Daily)

Selected Amtrak trains are now pet-friendly, for a fee. The pilot program now allows passengers to pay $25 to bring their pet (in a regulation-size carrier) onboard the Northeast Regional route that connects Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, D.C., and extends into Virginia. (Consumerist)

"Scary Lucy" may be showing up to your Halloween party this year. The unflattering life-size statue of actress Lucille Ball in the town of Celoron, New York is inspiring costumes and, in one city, a themed mall haunted house. In April, a statue replacement campaign launched on Facebook gained renewed interest in the wake of local media stories on the statue, which was called Scary Lucy for its grimace-like facial features. (AP)